On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (6)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
^ nttimn.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
ful mind from matter to its forces . The steamengine , the heliotypic processes , the telegraph , are all so many examples of what can be effected by suitable arrangements . The arrangement is almost everything , the material bulk next tq nothing . The direction of a natural power , the line of greatest force , is ever the real question . The finding of the right " angle is the mam point of skill . He is the master that hits the nail on the head .
One is , therefore , not unprepared for the suggestion of Doppler , a mathematician- at Prague , that possibly a medicine may work its effects by means of the extent of its surface , and not by reason of its ponderosity . Distinguishing that physical superficies of a body which is the sura of the surfaces of its exposed particles , he shows that the triturations of the homoeopathic pharmacist increase that surface at an enormously quick rate . A cubic inch of brimstone broken into a million of equal pieces no larger than a grain of sand is magnified in sensible surface from six square inches to more than six
square feet . It is calculable in this way that the exposed surface of an inch of sulphur , or any other drug of course , should cover two square miles at the third trituration as described above ; the inch of sulphur being rubbed down with ninety-nine square inches of sugar of milk for the first trituration , an inch of this mixture with ninety-nine of fresh sugar for the second , and so on . It would cover aH Austria at the fifth dilution ; Asia and Africa at the sixth ; the surface of the sup and those of his planets and their satellites . at the ninth ;
and it were bootless to follow the matter any further . Others have thought that the act of trituratipn may develop highly-intensified powers in medical substances , and it is not unlikely . Every chemist is familiar with the strange properties brought out in bodies by porosity or fine division . But these physical analogies , illustrations , facts , and conjectures do not seem to be necessary in the present instance . They do not come quite home to the point in hand , for every proposition must be judged by its peers , and these are not unprepared to give their testimony in this case .
What chemist , druggist , learned writer of dog-Latin prescriptions , or other engineer ever weighed the aguish principle of malaria upon his balance ? Who has detected and isolated the morbific essence of either cowpox or smallpox matter , or even shown that it is physically ponderable ? Is it not an infinitesimal particle of hydrophobic poison thatvvorks its proper woe ? How many grains , or what proportion of one grain , does a wasp inject under the cuticle with its sting ? But there is no end to such a series of queries ; and there is no beginning to their answers as yet . So that many diseases , and
someof these the very worst that afflict humanity , are notoriously brought on by infinitesimal quantities as minute as the doses of the homoeopathist ; wherefore we conclude that it is far from unreasonable to expect they will be expelled by equally small proportions of properly-chosen antidotes . In short , people should suspend their judgments when they either conceive or hear objections to the small doses of these homoeopaths , for it is ten to one but a word or two from a competent person would at once remove them . It ia only want of space that hinders us narrating a little more of our
own experience in that way . Be it remembered , however , and very particularly , that the homoeopathic physician asserts his globules to be curative , not morbific . It seems that you might swallow an ounce of cinchona globules , and yet no symptoms of intermittent fever ensue ; for that purpose you must take sensible quantities day after day . But one cinchona globule might cut short an advancing ague . Whence it follows that the infinitesimal doses of all sorts of things , which we daily imbibe by accident , do one no sort of harm ; whence it follows that a . homoeopathic medicine not exactly suited to the symptoms does one no good ; whence it follows , on « e for a \\ , that a homoeopathic doctor
cannot do one any harm , even if he do one no good , and that by the universal confession , or rather assertion , of the opposite faction . On the whole , then , since the profession in prance hu . ve betaken themselves to the medecine cxpectantc , or the elegant system of laissez fuire , and since Dr . John Forbes , the Sir llobert Peel of the profession in England , has pronounced that nature or donothing ih no much better than any known treatment as to render the birth of sonic Young Phytrie or other much to bo desired , it really does appear to uh disinterested , spectators tlmt Young Britain <; ou , l < J not do a wiser thing than , fl ^ ve IJowoeopathy q , leisurely trial , while Young Physic ia getting conceived ,, carried , born , wit in swaddling clothes ,
taught to walk , sent to school , and made a man of . As for Monsieur Laissez-faire , he is waiting for something to turn up ! Nothing has been said of the boasted cures and statistics of the Hahnemannians , and simply because we ar © disposed to undervalue such things . Every systein can vaunt its cures . The question at issue is to be finally settled only by long , long experience . Medicine resembles astronomy in the length of time over which its observations must sometimes extend . Conviction may reach an individual physician or a patient in a short space
but it cannot take legitimate possession of the scientific mind of the world for many years to come . We have only endeavoured , therefore , to convey something like a clear general conception of what this new scientific power is , which is silently struggling into notice and preferment in the world around us , in order that neither we nor our readers should remain behind the age we live in . In conclusion , although sometimes writing with warmth , like swordsmen passing from their lesson to a fight , we wish to be regarded not as advocates but reporters .
Untitled Article
BOOKS ON OUR TABLl £ . An Etsqy on the New Analysis of . Logical folia * . By Thomag 8 peneer Baynes . Sutherland and Knox . The doctrine of the quantification of the predicate recently enunciated in the lectures of Sir W . Hamilton , and explained by Mr . Baynes in this little work , is a most important improvement in the analysis of logic . By removing the cumbersome apparatus employed in the processes of conversion and reduction , it much facilitates both the study and the practical application of the science . We can with , confidence recommend Mr . Baynes ' s essay to proficients in logic , but we fear that his labours will be little appreciated by tyros or the general reader . To those already familiar with the best treatises on logic , the melange of criticism and historical detail which he gives in a very full appendix , will be interesting and valuable , and a convincing proof of the attainments o f the author as a scholar and an accomplished logician ; but , without descending to unscientific treatment , it -would have been possible , we think , to bring the subject within the grasp of readers of ordinary reflection and intelligence , unacquainted with the technical logic of the schools . Mr . Baynes has produced a learned rather than a concise and perpicuous book ; perhaps more from reverence to his teacher than from want of the
tact and general knowledge needed for a more popular performance . The publication of the simple and beautiful theorem taught by Sir William Hamilton , afforded a writer of Mr . Baynes ' s abilities an opportunity of giving a general sketch of lo ^ ic that might essentially contribute to remove the prejudices of the many vigorous minds which at present despise the science , because they are disgusted with the obscurity and prolixity of the common treatises on the art . A familiarity with the formal laws of thought would be so useful to all the multitudes who are engaged as writers or readers of the important controversies which now agitate the public mind , that a really good popular treatise on logic would be a great public good . Christian Aspects of Faith and Duty . By J . J . Tayler , B . A . John Chapman .
This volume would at any other period have seduced us into a lengthy examination of its contents , and we may still return to it on some future occasion ; meanwhile it may interest many to know of the existence of a work of so much eloquence and thought , on a subject upon which it , is difficult indeed not to be eloquent , but more difficult not to be commonplace . Mr . Tayler is a thinker as well as a writer . As an Unitarian , he of course holds opinions greatly at variance with our own ; but ho has the thinker ' s ritiht to hold them .
Untitled Article
Pictorial Shakspere . Vol . 1 . ( lliHtomi *) . I ,. Knight . Companions of my iiulitu . de . "W . Pickering-. % 'he Works of I'luto . A new and lkerM version , chiefly from the toxt olSlalllmmn . Vol . 4 . lly Ueorftn UurgeB . M . A . II . G . Boh 11 . History of the Planting and Training ol the Christian Church , b y tht ! // jwntlfs . Uy Dr . AugiisliiH NuauiU'r . Traim ' atvd from this third edition of th <^ original German . Uy J . K . R y lund . II . ( i . Holm . C ' iiM ) Fit ' . ld . A T . iIcmiI '( lie I'urifuiiH . Colburu and Co . A little Earnest Hook upon a great old Sulycct . With tin ; Story » J l / w / toet Lover . l ( y William Wilson . Darton and U » . Trtipln > n < i and other Poems . By John W . I'lulchur .
W . Pinki ; ring . The Prospective Review . A Quarterly Journal of . Theology and I . ilcniiiuc . Nu . Uli , J . Ch ; i | Jiuan . The Imperial Cynlopuulia . I ' urt 7 . (? - Kni ght . The Itainlilnr . I ' mtlil . lSuriiH and Lambert . The- Life of JHt > scn , first Ltnt'U'i'cr of Oriental and Occidental Mankind . A 1 ' rojjinnmn ! of Kuropoiui ( Contiimntul ) Democracy . Hy Dr . J . l . othk . y . Jyniffht ' i ( Jyclojuedia of London . l \ ni , 0 . C > . Knight . Kniffhl ' s (! ycto ]) a : tti ( i of Industry , l ' urt 4 , 0- Knig ht . Chemistry of lhi \ Crystal Palace . A Popular Account of \ hi \ i'hviu ' w . A ' 1 'roportiftH of tin ; Chief MuIoiIhIh employed in itn CoiiHlrnction . Uy Thomas ( Jii ( H | li 8 . J . W . 1 ' iukqr and fc > v » - ThoSocrrt of JJeayty ; or , LaiHa' Companion to ( h « T \> iM . 1 . King .
Untitled Article
We should do our utmost to encourage the B ^ avitifUil , 05 the Useful encourages itself . — . bthb .
Untitled Article
VIVIAN AT THE EXPOSITION . Every age has its Poetry let but the poetic eye , be there to see it ; and slowly it is dawning upon men s minds—dawning I say , for the faint streaks of light struggle against a whole hemisphere of darkness—that this " our wondrous mother-age " will have its Poetry fashioned out of its own realities , bearing the peculiar impress of what is peculiar to the time , and worthy to rear its laurel-crowned ; front beside that of any Golden ox Augustan Age that has yet brightened the annals of the world .
Our Age is emphatically the Industrial . We have passed out of the gloomy cloisters , and the rude jovial castles of Feudalism j we have cast aside the hauberk and halberd ; we have sheathed the sword , and the Military spirit is longer dominant ; is no longer the animating impulse of society ; it has given place to the Industrial spirit . That is the stern irresistible fact . To deplore it is foolish , idle . I state it merely to point to further issues , and to self-determining impulses towards new and dominant forms of Art . Paganism has had its Art ; Feudalism has had its Art ; Industrialisrp . will have its Art .
And here in this Hyde-park , in this murk y London of ours , in this actual May , 1851 , surrounded with all the prosaisms of the Present , see a Crystal Palace rear itself , the Fairyland of Labour ! If ever anything exceeded all anticipations , transcended even the capr icious volatility of imagination , this Exposition is that thing ! For myse'f , I had no great anticipations . I rather dreaded it as a bore . " Useful information " is my aversion , and the Polytechnic drives me mad .
But when on Saturday last , Hooked down from those light elegant galleries upon tbe world of wonder and of beauty spread before me , I felt something like the mingling of awe and delight with which I first entered fairy-land in the dream-peopled season of childhood . " This , " I exclaimed , "is the Poetry of our Age . " [ N . B . What liars we writers are ! I didn't exclaim anything of the kind ; whatever I may have felt , I believe my confused feelings rented themselves in a most fragmentary and ejaculatory style . ]
The scene is simply and truly transcendant . The palace itself , with Qwen Jones ' s felicitous adornment of colour ; the sweep of the galleries ; the glories of the transept as a burst of sunshine shimmers through it ; the fountains gurgling with cool delicious murmur and sparkling amidst trees and flowers ; the noble aisle with its sculpture , its bronzes , its wonders , its moving masses of curious human beings gaily dressed ; the marvellous variety and festal splendour given to the scene by the colour which is so prodigally diffused ; the glimpses into avenues and recesses all crowded with
marvels ; the sense you have of man ' s ingenuity , courage , skill ; and the lustre of Beauty which thus crowns Use and Industry—all give to the scene a magic eludes description . The impression is of something fairy like , yet solemn ; it would be colossal and stupendous , were not the austerity so charmingly tempered by Beauty . Itoarning through its vast spaces and solitudes , intent only on the general effect , I did not give much heed to the detail wonders , and none to the
" inventions . " I was content to enjoy . In fact , as it would take aome dozen visits to gather even an incomplete notion of the details , I advise all my readers to follow my example , and on their first visit merely walk over the building without pausing to investigate particulars : that will take some hours . On subsequent visits they may choose the separate departments their interest or curiosity le nd" them to inveativate . Hut the conn d'ooil —•
the general impression should not be frittered away by minute research . It is not a bazaar remember ; it is the Congress of Nations ; a Holy Alliance of the true , kind ! I would suggest , however , either to the Executive or to the organ builders , tliat with such noble organs iu tbe building it is to be regretted music is not incessant . Why should it not be arranged that one organ should play at curtain hours , another at another : thus displaying the <| uality of the instrumentsand enlivening the scene .
, As the effect—visual and emotive—of this Exposition transcends all calculation , sq I bqlioye will its influence—mora l and industrial—be transcendent . I am not about to fill columns with what every one
Untitled Article
May 10 , 1851 . ] fc ^ e JL $ aHtt , 445
^ Nttimn.
^ nttimn .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), May 10, 1851, page 445, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1882/page/17/
-